Refrigerator appliances generally include one or more cabinets defining chambers for the receipt of food items for storage. Refrigerator appliances may also include features for dispensing ice and/or liquid water. To provide ice and/or liquid water, a dispenser is typically positioned on a door of the appliance. The user positions a container proximate the dispenser, and ice and/or liquid water are deposited into the container depending upon the user's selection. A paddle or other type switch may be provided whereby the user may make a selection. Typically, the liquid water is chilled by routing the liquid water through one of the refrigerated chambers.
The water dispenser may have an associated sensor arrangement configured to detect the height and/or presence of a container positioned proximate the dispenser. However, known sensor arrangements suffer from several drawbacks. For example, detecting the height and/or presence of the container with the sensor can take several seconds, and this delay is inconvenient to a user. Thus, there is a need for a water dispensing system with improved automatic dispensing.